The Smallest Change
by furiousmonkey
Summary: This story takes a different approach in playing out Anakin's "Chosen one" destiny. A retelling of the Clone Wars, beginning after the battle of Ryloth. Reviews welcome.
1. Arc 1 Ch 1

Beginning on Coruscant and winding its way around the dense deep-core, passing through the central hub of the Corellian sector and following a trail out through the Corellian trade arm, the Corellian run was an ancient trade route mapped out thousands of years in the past. It boasted passing many well known worlds along the way. Near the end of this nigh eternal trade route, a short stop from infamous Tatooine, lay the Ryloth sector, so named after its brightly shining central star. Second from this roiling, nuclear furnace drifted a burnt bronze planet. The planet was named by original the Republic navigators in honour of the star, which it danced around, Ryloth.

Both Ryloth the planet and Ryloth the star twirled endlessly around, facing each other at all times. The planet was tidally locked with its creator. Ryloth's sun facing side, also known as the Brightlands, was a barren wasteland. The star's rays beat a relentless assault upon the desolate rock, causing huge heat-storms and temperatures too hot for normal sentient life to handle. But life persevered on Ryloth now, just as it always did. A small part of the planet was relatively habitable. Around the circumference of Ryloth, a small barrier between the eternal night and day of Ryloth existed. This twilight zone proved supportive for the needs of the local Twi'Lek civilisation.

Glancing up from this twilight zone, many Twi'Lek could witness something which their kind had rarely ever seen. An entire Republican Naval Fleet was in orbit. Shadows against the backdrop of Ryloth's largest and brightest moon, the Open Circle fleet travelled in a slow rotating orbit, using the minimum of fuel, since achieving geosynchronous orbit was impossible.

Anakin Skywalker, famed Jedi Knight and Hero of the Republic, stood on the bridge of his personal Venator-class Star Destroyer, The Resolute. Glancing out of the viewport he could see a narrow band of dark empty space. Below him, Ryloth's Brightlands burned eternally. Above him, Mehtap, Ryloth's largest and closest moon reflected the star's light. Tilting his head slightly to the left Anakin began watching The Victory, another Venator-class ship, as it slowly overtook The Resolute.

"General Skywalker, generals Kenobi and Windu have let us know that they are make the jump into Hyperspace, and are leaving momentarily.", Relayed Admiral Yularen.

Anakin turned slowly, his eyes staying on The Victory as long as possible, before turning his attention to the Admiral standing to attention a few feet from him.

"Thank you Admiral… Please open communications with the bridge of The Victory." A few thoughts were cruising through the young Jedi's mind that needed clearing.

"At once General.", The Admiral gave a curt nod before turning to one of the clones manning the communications station. Without having to say anything the cloned CO, the young soldier nodded in understanding and began opening the necessary channels.

"Channel Open… Acknowledged… We have transmission general."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Anakin acknowledged the CO and began striding over to the central Holoprojector. Stepping into its field of vision he looked up and greeted the figure on the other end amiably.

"Obi-Wan. Glad I could catch you before you departed."

"Not at all Anakin, I was just about to call you myself." Obi-Wan-Kenobi returned.

"I am sorry that I didn't talk to you right after the last tactical meeting, I feel I owe you more explanation as to why you are staying here and we are leaving." Obi-Wan continued.

"Good, Master Windu really didn't elaborate on, or justify anything he said. I really don't like being left in the dark here." Anakin retorted.

"Yes, not to worry Anakin. I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly what is going on now, I do not even know everything myself. Master Windu is still waiting on confirmation before he issues any orders. But believe me, there is a reason you are being left here. We need someone competent in this sector for the immediate future.", Obi-Wan said as flatteringly as possible. His former Jedi pupil was sometimes a little predictable, as Anakin's stance relaxed a little more, before he questioned.

"Separatists amassing nearby? Grievous spotted?"

"Something like that, I can't say over communications, this really has to be kept clandestine for fear of discovery…"

Anakin nodded understandingly, and let his friend continue.

"…I'll return from Master Windu's fleet when I have news. It'll probably be at least a week before I'm back. In an emergency case scenario where I can't return in person, be ready to receive an Alpha-level encoded message."

"I will Master." Anakin returned. "Any idea what I could do to keep myself amused here Obi-Wan?" he joked, lightening the mood further.

Obi-Wan furrowed his brow for a moment before relenting, "All right. I know you are barely serious. I wouldn't try that line with Master Yoda if I was you or you will receive a long lecture on Jedi behaviour and etiquette… Still, I hear the Flying Rock Gardens of Ryloth are particularly nice, as well as some of the luminescent plants of the Nightlands."

"Thank you Master." Anakin said with a wry smile as Obi-Wan turned and began walking out of the Holoprojector's range. Just as he reached the edge he turned partly and said.

"Oh yes. You didn't hear it from me, but I did hear that a certain type of race is taking place here soon. I've no idea when or where, it's just a rumour. Investigate if you wish, but please, be ready to jump at a moment's notice."

Anakin's brow furrowed and said sincerely, "Thank you my friend, good luck."

Turning away again Obi-Wan finished, "And you my friend, may the force be with you."

"Channel and connection closed…", the nearby CO reported as the Holoprojector's image flickered and disappeared, he continued, "Fleet reporting jump in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… They're away sir... All remaining vessels present and accounted for. Orders General?"

Anakin turned from watching the ships jump and strode across the bridge towards the door. "Thank you Lieutenant, continue orbiting Ryloth, send probes to the edge of this system and set a continuous CAP through all local sectors, and get on the horn to the repair barge, I want this ship in stellar condition as soon as possible… Admiral, you have the deck." Anakin nodded to Admiral Yularen before departing through the automatic blast doors.

"Yes sir." The lieutenant replied before opening the necessary channels and relaying these commands around the ship.

The blast doors shut behind Anakin just as Admiral Yularen took up his post in the centre of the bridge.

* * *

Though his stride seemed filled with purpose, Anakin's mind was far removed from the artificially lit, metallic interior of his assigned cruiser. He was, as he often was, troubled in his thoughts. Obi-Wan's snippets of information had given him some serious food for thought. Something big was going down, and he was unfortunately not privy to it yet. This of course grated, was he not trustworthy enough for Master Windu. He silently thanked his friend that he had revealed all he safely could to him. Pushing those thought aside he thought of the last thing his former master had said to him. As dangerous as normal, sanctioned podracing was, illegal podracing was infinitely more dangerous. Only the most crazy, foolhardy psychopaths of any race tended to take part. More importantly for Anakin, however, was the culture that went with it. Normal podracing was an almost lawless affair in which slaves played a vital role, and would take place in lawless territory such as the Hutt space. But for podracing to occur on a Republic planet, something else must be happening. And as the culture often proved true, it would most likely be a large slaver's meet.

What puzzled Anakin most was that Obi-Wan had told him about this at all. He knew how Anakin felt about slaves, and that he would most likely rush out to try and do something. He go the feeling that there was more to this than met the eye, and that Obi-Wan wanted him to look into it.

Anakin's feet made a harsh clanging sound as he came to a halt in one of the hallways. His hand rose to his chin in a thoughtful pose while his brow furrowed even further. He was torn about how to approach this situation, almost everything, including Obi-Wan was pushing him to do it, which was the only reason he was giving this serious thought and preparation.

A nearby *Clang* broke Anakin from his thoughts, he looked up and looked around, eyes scanning the hallway for the source of the noise. Hearing only nondescript humming noises emanating from the bowels of the ship Anakin soon gave up and was about just about to stride off to the hangar deck when another *Clang* reverberated through the walls. Identifying the sound of the noise as coming from the next door down the hallway he took a few steps to reach it. He stopped at the threshold as he realised where he was. It was the room belonging to his Padawan learner, Ahsoka Tano. A teenage Togruta from Shili, taken from her home planet by Master Koon, raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and assigned to him as his apprentice. She tended to have a slight temper at times, was sometimes difficult to control and deal with. He had a far easier time dealing with other females, such as the solitary Shaak Ti or of course his calm and collected wife Padmé. And if he was perfectly honest, there were times where Anakin wished he hadn't been assigned her, or any Padawan for that matter. He preferred to do things his way, without having to babysit someone at all times. That's why he much preferred going on missions with Obi-Wan. Even though Obi-Wan was far more cautious and passive than Anakin when it came to dangerous encounters and still tended to try and give, in Anakin's opinion unnecessary, teacher's advice, he could handle himself without anyone's help and always understood Anakin's style of dealing with situations. Anakin did, however, see a little of himself in his charge, the brash, impatient side. This had helped him get used to her and he had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, that she was quite skilled and on her way to becoming solid Jedi Knight material. Still, he did often wish he didn't have to deal with her at times like this.

He stood before her door looking at the name engraved on the doorframe… Ahsoka Tano … it may be better if she was left here while he went to the surface to investigate what was going on with this race. Anakin was just about to open the door to her room and let her know he'd be making a trip to the surface on his own, when he heard another *Clang*, followed by an almost hysterical muttered oath. Anakin leaned in to the door, pressed his ear to it, closed his eyes and listened.

His eyes opened again and he took a step back when he recognised the sound of a crying girl coming from inside the room.

"Master?" Anakin took a step back and raised both hands in front of him in a subconscious form of defence as he heard Ahsoka's voice.

"Master, are you there? Don't come in… I'm… I'm in the middle of meditating…" Ahsoka managed to get out, between hidden sobs.

But her Master was already gone.

* * *

Anakin reached his own room a few minutes later and locked the door after himself. Slouching over to his bed he dropped backwards onto it, let out a loud sigh and took in a deep, cleansing breath, before sitting bolt upright.

He could deal with anger, he could deal with rashness, he could deal with disrespect, impatience and cockiness coming from his Padawan, but having an emotionally upset Padawan was not something he knew how to deal with. He had a good idea that she was still torn up about causing the deaths of so many of her wingmen only a few days previously. He didn't know what he could say to her that he had not already said.

"She'll have to deal with it by herself for a while longer." Anakin muttered with a tone that almost denoted finality.

He reached out and grabbed the communicator beside his bed and slicked the switch.

"Connect me to the hangar bay… Chief, this is General Skywalker. I want the Twilight ready for takeoff in one hour galactic standard… Excellent, thank you Chief."

Anakin placed the communicator back onto his nightstand before rising and heading out of his room.

Once outside he began taking the straight line along the ship's spine towards the bridge. He intended to meet with the Admiral and Captain Rex in person and explain his plan before departing for the surface.

Anakin rounded a familiar corner and strode through an equally familiar corridor. Passing his Padawan's room he slowed a little and strained his ears to listen. She was no longer crying, or no longer there. He paused for a second.

"Damn it anyway!" He exclaimed under his breath. He realised that she was his charge and apprentice, even if he couldn't deal with what was bothering her, or if she would possibly be a nuisance in the upcoming mission, she was still his Padawan. And it was his responsibility to teach her. Nothing would be worse than ignoring her plight now and leaving her by herself, Anakin could attest to that.

He turned and knocked on the door before loudly saying, "Ahsoka, are you there?"

There was a pause, when it was clear that no answer was coming Anakin simply opened the door and stepped in.

His Padawan was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed in a meditative position. Her temporarily, slightly swollen eyes were shut, and her lightsaber floated, chest high, in front of her.

"Ahsoka, I want you ready to travel planetside in less than forty minutes, understood?" Anakin requested in a firm, but non-harsh tone of voice.

"Yes Master…" Ahsoka's temporarily tiny voice managed after a short pause, "…where are we going?" She continued.

"Training." Anakin said after a long pause. And with that he left the room, closing the door behind him.


	2. Arc 1 Ch 2

Usually The Resolute's hangar bay would seem cavernous and impersonal, a large, grey-walled construct filled only with the ship's complement of fighters and little else. Today, however, it was brimming with life and overflowing with activity. The recent planetary invasion had taken its toll on the cruiser's fighters; many had been damaged and were in need of repair. Both non-commissioned clone mechanics and regular ship crew were working ceaselessly at the damaged ships, causing plumes of sparks every time they welded, while 'mech droids weaved their way through the jungle of salvaged ship parts, exposed pipes, sparking wires and oily patches on the deck.

Standing out slightly from the plethora of smaller ships was 'The Twilight' a spice smuggling freighter, which had been 'appropriated' for republic use by Anakin some months earlier. It now served as his own personal errand ship and was almost like a pet project for him. He was constantly, as he was now, tinkering with its inner workings, modifying or improving them.

His current project found him trying to repair the ship's wing tip searchlights, which had taken a hammering by space debris recently. He sat cross-legged on the edge of the long side-wing with a ball of wires in one hand and a soldering iron in the other. Underneath him Artoo waited as impatiently as a 'mech droid could make known, constantly emitting bleeps. Beside Artoo and staring up at Anakin stood Rex. The clone captain stood not in his regular suited up Mark I armour, but the recently issued red GAR off-duty fatigues. Only a small blue stripe on the upper sleeve marked him as a captain now. He had his arms crossed in front of him and was radiating very mild displeasure.

"You sure you don't want me or some of my boys along general? Ryloth's still not the most friendly of places to be. Those desert beasts'd make short work of a Jedi, even one of your skill, sir."

Anakin didn't look up from the mess of wires in his hand, and replied,

"I'm aware of that Rex, but I really don't want to attract attention to ourselves, were doing a little informed snooping and wandering around with troopers is a dead giveaway."

Rex uncrossed his arms and gestured with his hands to emphasise his response,

"Then let me come along wearing normal gear, no one knows what we clones look like under the tin cans anyway. It's supposed to be my job to keep you safe, which I can't do when you're running around by yourself. I know what kind of trouble you keep getting yourself into. Especially if it's slavers again."

Anakin let out a little "Aha" and isolated two wire ends and soldered them together, once attached, he pushed all the wires back into the exposed section of the wing and replaced the covering panel. He finally looked up at Rex an gave him a serious look,

" And don't think I don't appreciate all the times you've pulled me out of those messes. But this is something I need to do by myself."

Rex crossed his arms again as one of his eyebrows raised,

"Ahsoka's going, she tends to cause more situations than you do. Your partnership tends to have a destructive quality to it."

Anakin uncrossed his legs and swung them over the edge of the wing,

"Truer words rarely spoken Rex, but I need to take her with me. She took the death of her squad pretty badly, need to do some grownup mentoring, Kenobi-style."

Rex relaxed his stance a little and lowered his arms,

"Fair enough, sir. Can't imagine foisting her off on us for a while would work. Even if losing brothers is pretty much hard and happens far too often, I wouldn't trust any of us to give sage advice or the right comforting words. Etiquette wasn't a terribly important subject of Kamino, not even for those prima-donna commandos and ARC's."

Anakin let out a slight sigh of relief, having Rex understand would prevent some hassle.

"Thanks Rex, knowing us you'll be meeting us down there to extract us sooner rather than later. Do keep an open channel to Ahsoka and I."

Rex stood slightly more upright and delivered a curt nod.

"Of course sir, I'll keep my ears open for trouble… Speaking of trouble, here comes some now."

Rex nodded and gestured to the other end of the hangar behind Anakin. He turned to see Ahsoka gingerly weaving her way through the crowded hangar. She was dressed in her usual outfit, foregoing the normal Padawan dress code, and on her utility belt her lightsaber was fastened securely. Anakin reached out gingerly in the Force to sense her emotions. He was careful not to reach out enough for her to notice; for fear that she would take offence on the intrusion. To Anakin, Ahsoka seemed to be outwardly calm and collected, and thankfully he didn't sense an overwhelming amount of grief in her, but her usual feisty determination and focus was noticeably absent. Hopefully, he thought, that that wouldn't cause a loss of her skills on the upcoming mission.

Anakin pulled back in the Force and dropped carefully from the wing of the Twilight to land beside Rex and Artoo and stood waiting for his Padawan.

***

Things weren't going quite as smoothly for Ahsoka as she'd first imagined they would. When the war first began with Geonosis, there was an initial amount of impending dread that Ahsoka felt. So many Jedi killed in one fell swoop. Jedi whom she had grown up to believe were nigh invincible. At that time Ahsoka's impending journey into adulthood and Padawanship just as war was beginning had scared her, and hearing of all the deaths of prominent Jedi made her really think for the first time of her own mortality. She began to wonder how she would fare in this war, who would train her on the battlefields across the galaxy and how ultimately, she would likely perish. Fear clouded her mind; she became restless for a short time, not knowing what to do, but a chance encounter with her old friend Plo Koon had done well to set her back on the right path.

Not long after Geonosis, Ahsoka had been meditating and contemplating her own mortality in the temple gardens. Master Koon had been nearby; sensing the plight of the then youngling through the force had sought her out and confronted her. Ahsoka's initial reluctance to speak about it was quickly overcome by the sage Master. Speaking as equal, mortal individuals they chatted for some time. Master Koon's insight changed Ahoska's outlook considerably. No longer did she fear death as she once did. The thought of her own mortality still didn't sit well with her, even to this day, but it now sprang from a love and enthusiasm of life, rather than a fear of death.

With renewed vigour and determination Ahsoka set about training. If she was going to survive this war and all the evils it would bring she needed to be sharp, skilled and confident. Day in, day out she trained, for several months, always either honing her prowess with a sabre or her knowledge of the force. Single-minded determination became the order of the day, and the temple's mechanics lamented at the constant stream of training bots that were in need of constant repair.

This determination and focus did not go unnoticed by the upper echelons of the Order. Since their talk Master Koon had been keeping an eye on the youngling, so when the council's debate turned to who would be a fitting Padawan for Anakin Skywalker, one of the most single minded and determined Jedi Knights in the order, his thoughts immediately turned to Ahsoka, one of the most determined and single-minded youngling.

Ahsoka had been summoned to the council chambers some days after this. Standing before the full Jedi Council, half in holograms or not, was slightly overwhelming. But she had known why they summoned her, and she was anxious to know who her fate in this war would be tied with.

Elation was one was one way to describe her reaction when Yoda had told her she would do her service alongside Anakin Skywalker. Barely a knight himself, but his status was undeniable. Trained by one of the most respected Masters on the council, Obi-Wan-Kenobi, in a line that began with the sage old Yoda himself, and well-respected Knight himself, Anakin had been the quiet talk of a lot of the younglings. They looked up to him, as something to set their goals for. Something Ahsoka had also done. Setting out the next day, Ahsoka began her journey as a Padawan and hopefully into adulthood.

Ahoska's time so far as a combatant in the Clone Wars thus far had been a tough but oddly rewarding one. Her determination and skill rose with every victory, and her confidence at succeeding to become a Jedi had been at an all-time high. She no longer doubted herself, and was even sure she would make out of the conflict in one piece, reckless Master or not.

The battle of Ryloth had changed things for her. Her own mortality was almost a non-issue for Ahsoka at that stage, but the death of her squad, due to her own actions during the blockade really hit her hard. She had caused the deaths of others, other living, breathing men. They weren't just faceless 'clones' as they were to the ordinary Republican citizen to her, they were who they were, individuals, some even friends. Now that they were gone she couldn't help but wonder if she was at all fit to lead men if she couldn't protect them. Her confidence and determination had taken a bit of a blow. So that's where Ahsoka found herself at that moment. Absent-mindedly wandering through the hangar of the deck she was so used to, seriously doubting that command of others was hers to hold. A knot formed in her stomach as she noticed the absence of a few otherwise familiar force signatures. Slightly more downcast again she glanced up, locked on her target, the Twilight, and set a slightly more direct course for it.

Standing underneath the main wing of the ship were two very familiar faces, Rex stood not quite to attention in his red GAR fatigues, but was certainly far more upright and presentable than her Master, enthralled in the datapad in his hand and stood leaning on a belligerently beeping Artoo. Smiling cheerfully to hide her doubt Ahsoka greeted them,

"Hello Master, Rex. Are ye ready to roll?"

Ahsoka hoped her falsely cheery disposition would at least fool Rex, she knew full well it was nigh impossible to fool a force user. Rex of course, being a clone captain, and used to having to read the tiniest of differences in facial expressions to tell his brothers apart would have been able to notice this falsehood even if he hadn't just had a conversation with Anakin about it, but he went along with it, trusting that Ahsoka's Master would handle the situation.

"No today for me Commander, I have troop training to conduct. Should be nice, all that time with you two troublemakers has kept me from devoting good time to my brothers. But don't worry, Artoo will keep ye out of trouble. Right Artoo?"

Artoo's response once again just sounded like a belligerent and annoyed message for Anakin to stop using him as a leaning post. Anakin didn't look up from the datapad that he was scanning through. Ahsoka rolled her eyes, crouched to Artoo's level and quietly spoke to the feisty astromech droid,

"If he were doing that to me Artoo, I'd move very suddenly."

With that Ahsoka stood up and took a step backwards. Whatever controlled Artoo's decisions made up its mind in record time as the droid immediately dropped his third leg and made a sudden lurch forward. Anakin, not expecting his leaning post to simply vanish from under him was feeling the full effects of suddenly finding yourself off balance. He stumbled a few steps to the side in a very ungraceful manner, shouting a huttese expletive, before he caught and righted himself,

"Cheeky Astromech droid! Go on inside before I use you as spare ship parts."

Anakin pointed at the open entrance to the ship and glared at Artoo until the little droid gave in and wheeled away, happily bleeping to himself. Anakin turned to Rex and Ahsoka who stood quietly suppressing grins.

"Not a word you two… Ahsoka, you'd better go in too, get this old pile of junk warmed up. I want to leave before we get caught to do something here. Rex, here, this looks good. Hopefully we can keep to these repair schedules."

With that he handed Rex the datapad he was holding and began moving around the ship, removing all fuel lines as his Padawan disappeared into the bowels of the Twilight.

Rex turned and marched off in typical soldier fashion while wondering how this mission was going to turn out.


	3. Arc 1 Ch 3

From a distance The Twilight seemed like a tiny glittering speck of dust exiting the open bowels and moving its way through the debris field surrounding Ryloth. Once it made its way into this debris it looked almost indistinguishable from the rest of the wreckage, but it was moving with definite purpose. Twin beams of powerful light were scanning through the wreckage to find a safe route through.

Taking a look inside the cockpit of this old and battered ship would reveal two Jedi, a master and an apprentice. The master, a surprisingly young, twenty-year-old human male, sat slightly to the side, constantly shifting his concentration for watching the nav-monitor for nearby objects to watching and scrutinising his apprentice, who was in charge of flying the ship. This apprentice, an even younger fourteen-year-old Togrutan female was, in her own opinion anyway, doing a fine job of navigating through a field of wreckage. And to her, peripherally seeing her master constantly scrutinise everything she did was getting a bit trying. So much so that she decided to pipe up.

"Do you trust me not to crash the ship Master?"

Anakin took a quick glance upward out of the front of the transparisteel cockpit before replying quite calmly,

"Of course Snips. Why ask?"

Ahsoka gritted her teeth at her master's nonchalanceness and replied,

"Then why are you watching me so closely?"

Anakin grinned and swivelled his chair back to the nav-monitor and again calmly replied,

"I'm not trying to get in your grill Snips, I'm just watching your flying style. You'd be surprised how many pilots crash in a debris field, even Jedi. It's all training."

Ahsoka's over-tightened grip on the controls loosened a little and she let out a soft, relieved sigh.

"Oh… Well, how am I doing Master?"

She asked timidly. Anakin mused on this for a moment while reaching out carefully in the Force. Ahsoka was currently a very slowly whirling pool of emotions. She was tapping on a centre of confidence and skill she knew she had, but there were occasional waves of uncertainty lapping at the edges. He could also sense in her the sudden need to be acknowledged and recognised. She was partly like him at that age, she knew and did have the skill, but always needed people to acknowledge it. In a way, Anakin mused to himself, he was still like that himself now. Seeing this younger self in his own Padawan was bringing some interesting realisations to light. Perhaps having this nuisance around was indeed teaching him something, though he would loathe to admit it. After this long pause he decided not to keep his eager Padawan holding her breath any longer.

"You're doing great Snips. I can feel you have a core of confidence, that's good. But I also sense uncertainty, that's not a good thing to have… It can eat at you, and if it overwhelms you at a stressful time can paralyse your action. That's dangerous Snips, let go of your uncertainty, I know you can do it."

Anakin's words had been as comforting as he could make them sound. All in all, he thought he'd done a good job with that. He was really quite pleased and thought it had come out rather sage-like. He smirked proudly to himself and kept watching his Padawan for a reaction. After a tense second of two she relaxed considerably and grinned slightly, before lightly chuckling a response,

"Who are you? Or better yet, where did you read that speech from?"

Anakin deflated slightly. Not about to let his ego get any bruising he quickly quipped back,

"Hey, that was all me Snips! You can't hang around Obi-Wan all your life without picking up something of his teaching style, as hard as I tried not to."

Ahsoka smiled softly, but Anakin could still sense some doubt and uncertainty in her as she quietly replied,

"Well I'm glad you have it in you somewhere Master."

It was becoming increasingly clear to Anakin that he couldn't cajole the old determined, curious and sometimes annoying Ahsoka out of her shell unless he addressed the loss of her squad. Anakin stayed silent for the next few minutes, while his Padawan carefully picked her way through the wreckage before clearing it completely and setting a course for the surface of the plant. Anakin was just about to bring up the topic of her lost squad when, without looking away from the controls and front viewport Ahsoka curiously asked.

"Where will I set a course for Master?"

Anakin thought about it for the moment, landing near the capitol would be counterproductive. The recent battles there gave the GAR a strong presence and crime would likely be at an all-time low. To blend in with the seedy underbelly it would probably be better to land in an equally large city, but one unaffected by the recent battle.

"Not sure Snips… I'll go through the options now."

Anakin opened a map of Ryloth on one of the monitors on the panel in front of him and began cycling through some options. Deciding not to procrastinate any longer he slowly and deliberately put the question to Ahsoka,

"Ahsoka, do you want to talk about what happened during the blockade?"

Anakin both watched his Padawan from the corner of his eye and reached out slightly in the Force to gauge her reaction. It came across to him as sad and dejected, almost resigned. Her shoulders slumped, her brow furrowed and the corners of her lips turned down.

"You're not going to let this one drop are you Master?"

Ahsoka asked, in an almost pleading voice. Anakin made to verbal response and kept a serious look on his face for some time until Ahsoka continued.

"Thought not… What do you want me to say Master? That I've gotten over it like you told me I should have? Well that's just not true… Clones… People died because of me. Not because of some tinnies, because of me!"

She paused for a moment and sighed. Looking over at her master she found him looking straight back at her. Anakin gave her a little nod as if to motion for her to continue.

"… I don't quite know how to feel Master. I miss my friends, yes. But I've lost some before, it's hard, but I always coped. This time, it's different. Every time I close my eyes I see their deaths, every time I sleep the whole thing is played out in my dreams and every time I meditate I notice their absence, and it's like they're blaming me, calling me unfit for command… I don't want this anymore Master… I don't mind fighting, but I don't want to be in charge of others lives"

Anakin's forehead creased as he realised just exactly how hard this war was affecting the minds of those in it. It was all wrong, it shouldn't be happening and most of all it shouldn't be dragging young people into roles that they weren't mentally ready to handle. He vowed to himself for the hundredth time that he would do his beat to end it as quickly as possible, finding those responsible and stopping them for good. But right now the most important thing was to get his Padawan back on track and out of this cell of self doubt and self deprecation that she was in before it ended up killing her.

"It's tough Snips, I know! Loosing men is hard, loosing men because of your own actions is even harder, but right now I need you back in the game… This war is unfair, and putting you into a position of power over trooper's lives is even more unfair, but it will happen again, it does to me all the time. Every man I loose is a blow. I try to remember them all, their names and what they were like, and I carry a part of that with me. But I do my very best to use that, I funnel that, I try to carry the best of my men with me, their hopes, their dreams and most of all their determination and dedication to get the job done. That's how I honour them… I'd like you to do your best to try that Ahsoka, honour their memory and their memory won't be as negative. Because if you don't get back that feisty spirit back I know it will kill you, and the last thing I want is to have to add your name to the list of dead to be honoured, even if you are nosey and annoying, though very skilled and determined, and all in all… I couldn't have asked for a better Padawan, and I am proud of you…"

Silence filled the cockpit of the Twilight as Anakin finished his last sentence. He waited a little nervously to see his Padawan's reaction; he hoped that would be enough to get her back on the right path. Ahsoka remained in silence for quite some time, Anakin sensed the whirl of emotions in her, what seemed like several minutes passed before she hesitantly broke a smile and gratefully replied,

"Thank you Master… I think… I think I can work with that."

Anakin breathed an internal sigh of relief as he sensed the flicker of her old determination inside of her. Despite this Anakin tread carefully and asked her,

"You'll be okay Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka smiled a little nervously and replied,

"I'll be okay Master, a little time and I think I'll be fine…"

There was a momentary pause before Ahsoka piped up again in her more usual cheery voice and asked,

"So do we have a target yet or do you want me to keep flying 'till our fuel runs out?"

Glad that his Padawan seemed to be getting back on track with a job well done by him Anakin smiled a little smugly and replied,

"Of course. Here, Tsa'vin. It's a small spaceport just on the Nightlands side of Ryloth. It was too small and too far away from any of the major cities to be attacked during the battle. The separatists never bothered with it, so neither did we, GAR presence there is non-existent. And from what these databases tell me, several smuggling groups are known to frequent it from time to time."

He showed Ahsoka a mapped readout of the surrounding area as well as the coordinates. She nodded curtly and remarked,

"Sounds perfect for a seedy place to go undercover."

Anakin grinned at his Padawan's powers of observation,

"My thoughts exactly!"

With that Ahsoka plotted her descent course down to Ryloth and the Twilight sped off towards to ever growing, dark shape of the surface of Ryloth's night side.

` ***

Captain Rex made an exasperated noise as he strode through the bowels of The Resolute. Inactivity didn't sit well with the clone captain and now the smallest things were getting to him. Rex never imagined that something about the new off-duty GAR fatigues would annoy him when he first heard about them. He looked forward to not having to wear the ridiculously tight bodysuit when not on patrol, or being able to sit down in the mess without his armour crimping his most sensitive of places. But now that he wore them it was the smallest of things that got to him. For the first time in his life he was wearing a different type of boots. The GAR procurement had supplied very standard, but fine pairs of tough, hardened Nerfhide boots. Rex had no problem with the shoes themselves. What irked him was that they made a completely different sound while walking, a distinctly non-metallic noise. The sound of them was so different from his normal Mark I armour boots that he often had moments where he thought he was being followed, and then have the embarrassing realisation that he was jumping at his own footsteps.

His current journey took him to the mess hall, in search of something better tasting than ration cubes to fill his almost constant ravenous hunger, the price of having a very fast metabolism. The mess hall itself wasn't a very glorious affair, not for the regular crew anyway. It was a very simple, large, grey-walled hall, with rows of long tables fastened to the floor and a steamy canteen at one end. The higher-ups in the fleet had their own dining room near the bridge of the ship. Commander Cody, having had been invited to a few on Obi-Wan's ship had once told Rex of the types of feasts that were served up there. Anakin had never invited Rex himself. Rex knew, however, that the General ate mostly in his own quarters, occasionally he came down to the mess to sit with the troopers and his Padawan, who seemed to completely ignore her privilege and always ate in the canteen.

Rex quickly served himself up a stew that he could only hope was made of Soba and made for the large seating area. Taking a quick glance around he tried to identify troopers from Torrent Company. By all means this was no mean feat to do this through the hustle and bustle of at least a hundred clones making their way through whatever was being passed off as a meal on this day. His eyes stopped at a table near the centre of the room that seemed to possess familiar faces. Subtle differences in mannerisms and facial expressions, as well as different hair cuts and tattoo markings told Rex that this table was populated by friends.

Weaving his way through the crowd of soldiers Rex quickly made it to the table. One of the troopers, Jax, saw him coming and stood up to attention. In almost one motion the rest of the table dropped their cutlery, pushed their chairs back and stood to similar attention. A noticeable exception was Sergeant Coric, who simple leaned back and smiled in a knowing way at Rex. Rex nodded and smiled back at his old friend before dropping his tray onto the table and gesturing at his red fatigues before saying,

"Out of uniform boys, no captain's at this table."

Sheepish realisation crossed most of their faces as they quietly sat down to continue their meals. The fatigues were relatively new, thus most troopers still hadn't gotten used to the concept of being "out of uniform". After a few quiet moments conversation started up again between most of the troopers. Rex listened in silently as he ate. It was mostly trivial things, recalling moments from past battles, wondering how injured brothers were, wondering where the next posting would be or current theories on where Grievous and Dooku were hiding. Once Rex was finished with the more edible parts of the meal he too joined in and chatted away with his brothers. Most of them had been serving together long enough for conversation to flow easily, but some soldiers were relatively new to the tightly knit band of brothers. Rex made extra effort to include them and get to know these soldiers.

He was just in the middle of talking to one of these new recruits, Jax, a slightly fidgety, but highly skilled sniper, who was telling him all about his first posting that led to him being chosen for the 501st when his wristcom began to beep. He apologised for having to interrupt the trooper's story and proceeded to open the link, before checking in,

"Captain Rex here."

Rex looked up to see Coric and Jax pretending to not pay attention, but clearly listening in, just as Admiral Yularen's voice was projected through the wristcom.

"Captain, good that you're there. This is Admiral Yularen. Since General Skywalker left me no orders to give you, I'd like to give you a mission of my own. Gather together a team of no more than ten, suit-up and meet me in the briefing room in no more than fifteen."

Rex noticed that the entire table had forgone any semblance of being discreet, had stopped talking and was now attentively listening in. Finding their enthusiasm heartening he replied to the Admiral,

"We'll be there in ten. Rex out…"

Before closing the link and standing up. He looked down at the expectant faces of his troopers and smiled before saying,

"Well I can't leave you all behind after hearing that. Up, the lot of you."

With an excited and anxious buzz, the seven troopers rose as one and made their way straight out of the mess hall. Rex caught Coric's attention with a quick jerk of the head and asked him,

"Coric, get Echo and Fives to meet us in the briefing room too. Should make a nice rounded team."

Sergeant Coric gave Rex an instant salute and replied in military style,

"Sir, right away sir."

Rex grinned and pulled at the shoulder of his fatigues to emphasise that he was out of uniform.

"Still wearing them Coric."

Coric cracked a grin, knowing Rex had gotten him, before turning and heading after the other troopers.

Rex took one last look down at his still half full plate before giving up and following his men.


	4. Arc 1 Ch 4

With the orange wash of light from the central hologram playing on their almost gleaming armour, Rex and his men stood immobile to attention in the briefing room of The Resolute. Rex mused that it would again be a shame that this armour would come back filthy if their mission took them down to Ryloth. The importance of a well-cleaned kit had been drilled into them by both the Kaminoan clonemasters and their non-Kaminoan drillmasters, but that didn't mean they enjoyed doing it, and fine sand was by far one of the hardest things to remove. As if mirroring his sentiments exactly, Rigs, the trooper standing to Rex's right exclaimed to no one in particular,

"Really hope we don't get stuck down there in a sandstorm, my deece still isn't right after getting battered in the last one."

Rigs was a simple trooper, currently serving in Sergeant Coric's unit, a straight talking man, sometimes at odds with the more dry and humourless sergeant. He had a penchant for saying exactly what you were thinking, which someone who didn't know that the clones were very much individuals wouldn't find surprising. Rigs, along with Jax were the only two representatives of Coric's unit. The other members that made up the team were Echo and Fives, the two troopers saved by Rex and Cody on the Rishi moon who were currently serving together under Sergeant Roe, along with Dyne, a mischievous soldier with a knack for explosives, Fi, a combat medic with a general optimistic demeanour, Risk, a hot-headed and impatient young man who preferred to let his fists do the talking and Cade a new and eager recruit with only the battle of Ryloth under his belt. The final four all served in various separate units in Torrent Company, and had only by chance been eating together.

"Not to worry trooper, this mission won't take you to the surface."

A voice exclaimed from the open door of the briefing room. All helmeted heads turned too see Wulf Yularen, in his classic hands behind his back pose striking a commanding pose in the doorway. As always the Admiral oozed authority Rex could hear Rigs wincing into his helmet, which was now hopefully not on loudspeaker. Coric seemed to share the sentiment and commed on the trooper's internal com system.

"How many times Rigs? If you're going to mouth, turn off your speaker."

An embarrassed sounding Rigs replied straight away.

"Sir, understood sir."

Rex really appreciated the internal com system of the Mark I armour, it allowed private conversations between troopers to take place in the presence of others without a single sound escaping the helmets, more importantly though it allowed orders to be clearly heard during the din of battle.

Seemingly taking no notice of Rigs' comments the admiral strode into the room. And came to a stop at the opposite end of the Holoprojector, facing the troopers. He pressed a few buttons, which made the holo-image zoom in on one of the outlying planets in the Ryloth system. An ancient giant terrestrial planet as far as Rex could tell. Stepping around the projector the admiral began,

"Troopers, one of the probes sent on patrol to the far edge of the system picked up a strange reading around Ryloth III, or Wayerth to the locals, A large rocky planet to far from the star to support life, and no significant minerals to make a mining venture profitable."

He pointed at a small object stationary at one side of Wayerth and continued.

"That's why this little ship here, a seemingly derelict Corellian mining vessel is a little suspect."

Rex's HUD transmitted a readout of the ship's schematics directly from the Holoprojector's systems. The ship did indeed seem derelict, preliminary scans showed no life, no active droids signals and no functioning life support systems, the ship's only functioning system seemed to be a quietly humming reactor. But even this seemed to be on its last legs. Clicking his back teeth to switch back to external coms Rex ventured,

"I assume you think differently sir?"

Admiral Yularen nodded curtly before continuing,

"The last recorded survey of Ryloth III was one hundred and fifty years ago, nothing was turned up then. The make of this ship, however, is quite recent, so there's no way it's been there since. I want to play it safe Captain, take a shuttle, scan the ship more thoroughly, find out what it is exactly and board it if you have to. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that it was left here by Separatists to keep an eye on the system."

Rex accepted the admiral's logic, were he in command he wouldn't leave anything to chance either. In Rex's book experience and preparation were everything. Rex saluted the admiral and replied,

"Yes sir, we'll be on our way."

With that the troopers saluted as one and marched in unison from the bridge with a clear purpose and mission in their minds.

***

Ahsoka never imagined somewhere that was filled with so many dubious characters could be so… breathtaking.

Having never been to the Nightlands of Ryloth this was turning into quite an experience for the young Padawan. Tsa'vin was as Anakin had predicted, a smuggler's haven. There was no perceivable law system, certainly no GAR presence, but still something about this place was almost magic it was so alive. Members of every species imaginable were busy milling through Tsa'vin's stall filled streets, and these stalls were everywhere. Not all, Ahsoka perceived, sold illegal goods as one would think. The vast majority of them sold what ordinary streets vendors would sell, only outside the realm of Republic taxes, and even those who sold contraband tended towards trinkets and rare creatures. Ahsoka assumed that the real dirt dealing of slaves, weapons and drugs smuggling was done underground, or at least not out in the plain open.

While these bustling, stall filled streets were certainly impressive, they were nothing truly new to the Padawan. Markets she had seen before. What she hadn't seen before was a night market built into the glowing, shimmering landscape of plants and flowers that created their own bioluminescent light to cope with the lack of sunlight. Most stalls and houses were carved from the living rock, and as such were overgrown with hundreds of plants. Some, grew like vines and clung to rock surfaces, or wound their way up pillars, and all along them crystals of bioluminescent light shimmered, alternating in every colour imaginable. Others clumped together like dense patches of wallflowers, creating an impressive powerful glow that seemed to keep in sync with the colour of all neighbouring plants, giving the impression that all plants were in some way linked together. Giant mushrooms played a dazzling display of shapes and colours on their huge heads, as if trying to tell a story through their light shows. And finally but most beautifully of all, very delicate and fragile flowers grew from patches on the ground. These flowers looked like they were made completely of precious stones and each shimmered with its own colour, no two seeming to have the same hue.

All of these visual sensations put together were becoming slightly overwhelming for the young Togrutan. Coloured lights played across her hands and robes as she held them out to examine them. She glanced up at the hooded shape of her master beside her. The lights played across him too, even illuminating his hooded face from time to time in one colour or another. Everything made this place seem so alive and magically enthralling, unlike the harsh neon lights of Coruscant's lower levels.

Coming to a pause beside a patch of glowing turquoise moss, Ahsoka touched it with her bare fingers. Ripples of colour expanded fluidly out from these points as if she had disturbed some still pond that reflected moonlight. She turned wide-eyed to her master. She could see an illuminated green smile coming from under his hood as he jested in a very light-hearted way.

"Mouth closed Ahsoka. Or do you want to catch bugs with it?"

Realising how foolish she must have looked wandering around the town gawking at all the plants with an open mouth and wide eyes, Ahsoka quickly closed her mouth and shook her head to get in control again. Looking slightly embarrassed she attempted to hide her face by pulling up the hood of her cloak, just like her master had. She tugged a little at the hood to get it to cover her still to grow montrals. The cloaks that her master had liberated from the Resolute's supplies locked had clearly not been designed with montrals, or lekku in mind. But at least Ahsoka mused, she could now gawk all she wanted and no one would be able to see her wide eyes

The cloaks were and attempt by her master to blend in a little with the crowds, so as not to draw attention, or so he had put it. It worked quite well; even Ahsoka's wide-eyed amazement wasn't drawing attention.

"I'll admit though Ahsoka, this place does look pretty sp… Whoa!"

Anakin cut his own comment short with that exclamation as they rounded a corner and took in one of the most fascinating sights they had both ever seen.

In the centre of the town stood an enormous tree, or at least it resembled a tree in shape only. What would normally be considered the trunk, looked as if they had been carved carefully from one giant diamond. Further up the tree, organic looking but still crystalline branches sprouted from the central trunk. These continued to split further and further into smaller and smaller branches, until they were as thin as needles. Each of these needle tips ended in a dazzlingly bright light that washed the rest of the tree, and the rest of the town's central square in a multitude of colours. It was as if night had been turned into day just through the glow of this tree.

While marvelling the sight of this tree, Anakin's grinning Padawan piped up at his side.

"Now whose mouth is open?"

Anakin turned and raised his eyebrow at the cheeks comment made by his grinning Padawan and commented,

"Enjoy that one Snips…"

Ahsoka smiled and giggled, almost girlishly, in a very un-Ahsokaish way. An act, if you knew Ahsoka for as long as Anakin did, was a little out of character for the usual feisty brazen teen. Once finished giggling, she questioned,

"So, did we just come here so you could impress a girl with these sights? Or are we going to do some of that training you said we would?"

Anakin couldn't help but grin himself. It was good to have his usual smart-arse of a Padawan back, even if she went a bit overboard sometimes. It showed him she was finally coping and moving on. Still, he felt as if he had to clear a few things up about the nature of the mission.

Wondering how best to approach the topic Anakin ventured,

"Snips, do you remember when you said you would help me track down and free all the slaves in the galaxy once the war was done?"

Suddenly realising the seriousness of the conversation, and appreciating how close this topic was to her master, Ahsoka quickly lost her smile and stared intensely before voicing a confident,

"Of course I do!"

Her enthusiastic response was heartening to Anakin and he continued on,

"Well then Ahsoka, we can call this training for that mission. There's supposed to be a podrace happening on this planet soon…"

Ahsoka's eyebrow rose at that comment and she cut-in before Anakin could continue,

"You're not going to make me race again, are you Skyguy?"

Just the thought of that whole adventure lightened Anakin up a bit, but he continued on seamlessly,

"Not at all Snips. Where there's podracing, there's slaves. Lets see if we cant cause a bit of a fracas and get a bunch out of there."

Ahsoka straightened her posture a little and adopted a questioning look before saying,

"Sounds good. Got a plan?"

Anakin grinned one of his lopsided grins and replied,

"Ah you know me. We'll think of something. But doing it now would be a good idea. With all the relocation the GAR is offering after the last battle it should be easy to sneak some slaves in with them and letting them disappear… Still want to help?"

Ahsoka leaned to one side and crossed her arms, as if she was pondering what her master had said. It didn't take long before she couldn't keep up the façade any longer. She smiled and held out her right arm. Anakin looked at it and saw her bracer-covered, burnt orange coloured hand extending from the voluminous sleeve that made up her cloak. She said,

"Of course I do!"

Anakin smiled, clasped her hand in his and shook firmly,

"Excellent! Good to know you're in. I'll probably need a convincing Togrutan princess slave again anyway"

Ahsoka struck a pose with her hands on her hips and simply pouted a defiant,

"Hey!"


	5. Arc 1 Ch 5

Despite Ahsoka's initial defiant objections, Anakin managed to convince his learner to play the part of the slave once more. So, under the gentle glow of the town's central crystal tree the two set about trying to get information on the upcoming podrace. Drawing from experience gathered from as far back as his own childhood as a slave on Tatooine, Anakin surmised that the easiest place to glean information on the seedy was to find the dodgiest tavern in the vicinity and pay it a visit. Thanks to some advice from a local Twi'Lek merchant peddling trinkets they found what taverns were reputable and by association, which to avoid. Smiling and thanking the merchant the two set off immediately towards the nearest so-called dive, known locally as the Thirsty Ithorian. On the way conversation began to flow again between master and learner. Anakin, noticing that Ahsoka strode confidently at his side in her usual manner was the first to speak,

"Ahsoka, I still don't think you're getting the hang of acting like a slave."

She looked at him in a quizzical manner before he continued,

"Don't walk so upright, slouch a bit, hang your head, look more downcast and downtrodden."

She huffed but adjusted her posture as best she could to look, what she perceived to be meeker, and grumbled a defiant,

"I'm gladly and willingly part of this whole thing, but acting like a slave is not something that I find easy."

Anakin turned from her and looked head ahead, she could see even through from under his hood that his eyes had a faraway dark look about them, it chilled her a little as he almost growled painfully,

"No… no it's not something that comes casually like that… it's something that just happens when you live your entire life being treated like someone's possession…"

Those words hung in the air for a few moments as Ahsoka winced under her hood. Trying to imagine what her beloved master must have gone through in his childhood away from the safety and comfort of the temple she adjusted herself some more, before gathering up the courage to apologise.

"I'm sorry Master. I didn't mean to…"

Which was as far as she got before he cut in, in an almost resigned and regretful way,

" It's alright Ahsoka. I know you meant no harm. This is my burden, I'll deal with it."

She winced again. Since getting to know her master, she had begun to see that he carried a lot of demons with him. In a way this caused the young Togrutan to admire him even more, wracked with problems he still was a force of righteousness that had singular burning drive. Still, she had always wished that there were some way of relieving him of his past and setting him free. Sighing almost silently she quietly questioned,

"So how are we playing this master?"

Clearly steeling and collecting himself to some degree Anakin replied in his usual confident and nonchalant way,

"Suppose we'll go with the standard. I'll try and see if I can get you included in some auction. That'll give us the best idea of where to find the rest of the slaves, especially if you get placed with them."

As a reply Ahsoka said in a mock enthusiastic voice,

"Great…"

Without breaking stride Anakin countered immediately,

"And please, keep that mouth of yours shut when we're talking to anyone. Levity isn't expected from slaves."

Coming to a halt outside their intended target, a seedy looking building with the town's possibly only neon sign hanging outside, Ahsoka gathered herself and voiced a confident,

"Understood. Ready when you are."

Flashing a quick smile at her enthusiasm to help, Anakin nodded and motioned for her to follow him as he turned and opened the old, hinged doors of the Thirsty Ithorian's front entrance.

***

The interior of the Thirsty Ithorian was what Ahsoka would eloquently describe as 'gross'. A single long bar lined one wall and was occupied by members of every species imaginable in every level of drunkenness soughed over bars and tables. All around this central bar and along the walls, hardwood dividers separated booths from one another. A viscous cloud hanging at head height reeked of opiates, which made Ahsoka's eyes water. Hanging her head, both to try to escape this reeking cloud and to look more demure and 'slave-like', Ahsoka followed her master as he strode confidently to the central bar with its female Rhodian bartender. She stood slightly sideways favouring one leg over the other, cleaning a dirty glass with a rag that all things considered, could only be making the glass dirtier. Her clothing, studded with rhinestones, shimmering in the orange light of the bar wouldn't have been out of place in a Coruscantii club. Reaching the bar her master caught the bartender's eye, raised two fingers and hailed her over. Abandoning her fruitless task of cleaning the filthy glass she moved over leaning over the bar to give Anakin her ear.

"Lekku twist, straight up."

She stood back for a moment, and looked Anakin up and down once, as if appraising him and his request. Ahsoka noted that he had used his roughest accent, something akin to how local humans spoke. Anakin picked up accents fast Ahsoka though, and was suitably impressed. Giving Ahsoka a quick glance the Rhodian's small extended mouth curled at the edge, giving her a disturbing looking smile before questioning in heavily accented and slurred basic,

"S'one for's your lady-friend's?"

Anakin spared a quick glance at his Padawan's lowered head before turning and scowling at the bartender,

"Not for this one. No point and greasing up something you plan to sell."

The Rhodian paused for a moment, before winking and ducking under the counter to produce two brightly coloured bottles. Ducking again she produced what Ahsoka could only hope was a cleaner glass than what she had been attempting to clean earlier, and began pouring the two liquors together. Filling it to the brim she slid the glass across the counter to Anakin and remarked.

"Of course not's. Pretty's little thing's though. Grethoc's wouldn'ts treat's her like's that."

Anakin grabbed the glass from the table and brought it to his mouth, while raising his eyebrow at her. He paused momentarily for effect, as if pondering something before lowering the glass slightly and questioning,

"Grethoc?"

The bartender took a step back and crossed her arms smiling knowingly,

"You's not from Tsa'vin's are you's?"

Anakin scowled slightly as he took a sip from the awful looking concoction in the glass and lowered it slightly again to speak. Ahsoka could see he was trying to not let it show what he must have thought of the drink.

"Clearly, care to enlighten an out of towner?"

The words had sounded wonderfully saccharin and threatening all at the same time. The Rhodian let out a small chuckle and leaned in again.

" I like's you handsome's. Spark's. Lowiq Vreen."

With the revelation of that name she nodded in the direction of a corner booth. In this booth sat a gaggle of young pretty Twi'Lek's surrounding a muscular and heavy-set Twi'lek, or so it seemed at first glance. On closer inspection the two Jedi realised that a Twi'Lek he was not. He had no Lekku, instead atop his head was a fine head of navy hair, also his eyes shone a brilliant vermilion red that almost seemed to light up his surrounding features, which on closer inspection were more human than anything else. In fact the only resemblance that the creature in the corner had to a Twi'Lek was his midnight-blue skin colour.

Ahsoka didn't quite know what to make of this creature, so she risked a quick glance up at her master; he stood intensely looking at the alien in the corner. A look of understanding came over his face as he turned back to the Rhodian and tossed a local coin at her for the drink.

"Bit of a long way from home isn't he?"

Catching and pocketing the coin from mid air with surprising deftness the Rhodian shrugged and spoke with an air of nonchalance.

"Suppose's so. Never seen's kind's like his before's, that's for sure's. Do be respectful's if you talk's to him. He got's influence."

Letting that last statement hang in the air and sink in for effect the bartender turned, picked up the dirt rag from before and continued her counterproductive task of wiping glasses. Turning from the bartender Anakin spared one quick look at his Padawan that seemed to suggest 'followed my lead', before confidently making his way past tables of raucously laughing patrons. The two Twi'Lek males standing guard around Grethoc's booth exuded confidence and oozed professionalism. Having seen both Anakin and Ahsoka glancing across the bar at them they had been keeping and eye on the Jedi. Anakin was suitably impressed. Usually slavers stuck to such disreputable company as Gamorreans that, while certainly providing muscle, could hardly be counted as professional security.

As Anakin came closer to his quarry one of the two guards took a step forward, one hand open-palmed stretched out in front of him the other on his hip-holster thumbing the catch. The other, custom black-powder shotgun in hand stood tense and ready to act. The one that had stepped forward to intercept him remarked first, his voice carrying an air of arrogance and swagger at his own self-importance. The other, remaining quiet and constantly scanning the room, Anakin decided, was the far more dangerous of the two.

"Seen you at the bar eyein' the boss. Best save yourself some time, if not your life and clear off."

Behind him, Anakin noted, Lowiq had taken no notice at all of his arrival and was still entertaining his wide-eyed Twi'Lek slaves. Cupping one's chin he whispered something to her, she smiled widely at him, but once he'd turned his attentions elsewhere the young slave looked down and shuddered slightly, a dark and foreboding look overcoming her delicate features. Ahsoka found the whole interchange disturbed her greatly, she felt for the young girl, not much older than herself. Sudden anger crept up through her, but just as quickly abated after feeling the understanding, but stern force presence emanate from her master towards her. Mentally shaking her anger from her she began breathing slowly and rhythmically, as she had been taught to calm herself. In the interim Anakin and the guard had continued their verbal spar.

"I'm not here to waste anyone's time, especially my own. I am a… businessman… I come to trade."

Anakin's convincing tone was impressive Ahsoka felt, just the right balance of arrogance and threat to make him seem genuine. The slaver guard clearly thought so too as he cocked his head to the side as if musing on something before querying in a rather languid way.

"And what, exactly, would a businessman like you wish to trade?"

Anakin continued his hard stare and replied,

"Oh from you? Nothing much, I barter for simple cash…"

He paused for effect; even the second guard was now following his eyes carefully.

"What I offer though is certainly worth the attention of your boss…"

The guard's eyes narrowed, it seemed he still had no intention of letting them pass. Undeterred Anakin continued,

"I'm sure he would appreciate the exquisite …piece of art… I have to offer."

Ahsoka caught the slight gesture in her direction. Face burning she lowered it, hoping to look demure, or anything other her normal confident self.

"Look, you kriffing ne…"

But he was cut-off mid sentence by the rumbling baritone of Lowiq Vreen himself. Ahsoka glanced up to see his vermilion eyes boring right into her. It unsettled her even more than his earlier actions.

"Eelis, let me see this piece of art."

The now named guard Eelis took a step forward and grabbed Ahsoka by the scruff of her neck and shoved her in the direction of the table. Ahsoka squealed and stumbled before righting herself and looking up to stare straight into two pools of malevolent vermilion.

Reaching forward with his left hand Lowiq removed the cowl around Ahsoka's head and pulled it down. He stared intensely for a moment at her, and then used the back of his hand to turn her face left and right, as if to appraise her worth. After a moment's pause he shoved her roughly two steps backwards towards her master. Before speaking, almost as if to himself.

"Togrutan. Rare. Good bone structure. Not to far from being a stunning full-grown too. Your product interests me; find Eelis here at the Nareekian plains podrace tomorrow. He'll take you too the auction."

He turned his head and spoke to Eelis, completely finished with Ahsoka and Anakin.

"Eelis, if you forget to frisk someone like that again, I'll shoot you myself!"

He gestured to the blaster held in-hand on his lap. Both Ahsoka and Anakin were surprised, neither had noticed him take it out and could not say with any certainty that he hadn't had it trained on them the entire time. Ahsoka began to wonder if the whole plan wasn't getting way over their heads.


End file.
